It’s not just HBO. It’s Showtime, too.
“When HBO puts a new show on in America, it’s a cultural event,” says Showtime programming president Jerry Offsay. “When we put a new show on, and people like it, it’s a good TV show.”
HBO has more subscribers, deeper pockets for production and promotion of its product and more critical buzz. But Showtime has been making some significant strides:
– The pay-cable network known for showing theatrical films has a slate of original fare that includes several dramatic series. Three in particular, “Queer as Folk,” “Soul Food” and “Resurrection Blvd.,” have been hailed for their portrayals of three minority groups that have been all but shunned by broadcast television.
– The dedication to minority representation extends to Showtime’s original movies, films covering a variety of topics for both adults and families.
Examples range from recent films such as “Our America,” the true story of two Chicago boys who chronicled harsh life in a housing complex; “Power and Beauty,” John F. Kennedy’s later years as seen through the eyes of mistress Judith Campbell Exner; and “True West,” a taped stage production starring Bruce Willis.
A lot of those films are produced by a group of performers that Showtime has called on several times to star, produce and direct in many cases, giving the network a cohesive stable of actors who are given the chance to express themselves creatively, as well as allow viewers the opportunity to see them in several different lights.
“They’ve definitely had a harder time catching attention for some of the stuff they do,” says Variety magazine writer Melissa Grego. “But they’ve been very committed, and Jerry Offsay who runs the channel, has been very committed to this sort of Showtime: No limit branding campaign, where they really are trying to take advantage of the area they’re in, which allows you to push the envelope a little bit.”
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“I think HBO has really solidified its place in the history of making television,” adds Scott Cohen, co-star of “Street Time,” a Showtime drama about a parole officer (Cohen) and his parolee (Rob Morrow).
But Cohen feels his series’ unique look at how the parole system works is an example of the kind of programming variety Showtime has on the air.
“I feel personally that this show has every capability and every potential — I honestly feel this — to beat out a `Sopranos’ and to beat out a `Sex and the City’ and to beat a `Six Feet Under,'” Cohen says.
Showtime has some impressive odds against it, including HBO and its Cinemax channels having almost 38 million subscribers, versus 32 million for Showtime and its Movie Channel and Flix networks.
More subscribers, more money
More subscribers means more money for production and promotion. According to Offsay, HBO doesn’t spend less than $15 million for its films, and the channel is probably on par with the average $2 million that broadcast networks spend on an episode of a drama. Showtime, however, spends between $3.5 million and $5.5 million for its movies, and between $1 million and $1.3 million for original series.
And while Showtime has been praised for “Queer as Folk,” “Resurrection” and “Soul Food,” critics speak more glowingly about HBO’s “The Sopranos,” “Six Feet Under” and “Sex and the City.” Still, Showtime carries on with programming that encompasses diverse subject matter, volume of original content and celebrity participation both in front of and behind the camera.
“There is a place [at Showtime] where we could perhaps expand the envelope or seek to tell stories in a different way,” says Danny Glover, who makes his directorial debut with Showtime’s “Just a Dream” (7 p.m. Sunday), and who is appearing in a future Showtime movie with Whoopi Goldberg.
Glover is the latest to join a loose repertory of performers who either star, produce or direct — and sometimes combinations of all three — in various Showtime productions, along with Goldberg, Eric Stoltz, Helen Shaver, Beau Bridges, Robert Townsend and others.
“There is a Showtime family of players,” Offsay says, “and we’ve gone out of our way to cultivate it.”
Mimi Rogers, who has produced four films for Showtime (the latest, “Charms for the Easy Life,” premiered Sunday) and performed in several others, thinks the network is “bright” in carving “a niche for really interesting films that kind of don’t have a home anywhere else.”
“They’re stories that are intelligent and provocative and interesting,” she says. “Both as an actress and a producer, it’s been a creatively wonderful and stimulating place to work.”
Original series
Also working for the network is its slate of original series anchored by “Resurrection Blvd.,” about a Latino family in East Los Angeles, “Queer as Folk,” surrounding a group of gay friends in Pittsburgh and “Soul Food,” about an African-American family in Chicago.
And although Showtime’s other series — “Street Time,” the musical comedy “The Chris Isaak Show” and science-fiction shows “Odyssey 5 and “Jeremiah” — have varying degrees of interest from the audience and critics, it is the three anchor dramas that have been hailed for giving different minorities a distinct voice of their own.
“I think Showtime is the only network that has a gay drama, a black drama and a Latino drama. You don’t see that anywhere else on TV,” says Ron Cowen, who with Daniel Lipman created and executive produces “Queer as Folk”
Dennis Leoni, the creator and executive producer of “Resurrection Blvd.,” says under Offsay’s direction, Showtime has “really tried to make television look the way the greater society in the United States looks.”
“We’re looking for stories that either haven’t been told or that others won’t or can’t tell,” Offsay explains of his programming philosophy.
Offsay, 48, who came to Showtime in January 1994 from ABC Productions, also saw programming for different kinds of audiences as good business. He notes the Latino, black and gay audiences combine to make a huge segment of the television viewing population, but they weren’t seeing their own kind appearing elsewhere on the dial.
“If I had two movies a year for the black population, why would you go out and pay $12 a month to get me?” Offsay asks. “But if I have `Soul Food’ and six or seven movies and the [broadcast] networks basically ignore you, the combination of those factors ought to make people say, `You know what, maybe we’re missing something if we don’t have Showtime.'”
That dedication to programming to minorities also extends to producing original series.
Offsay says the network is dedicated to series (pilots for four proposed series are in various stages of production) because the theatricals that pay cable networks are known for showing are seen in theaters, in hotels, on airplanes, on pay-per-view and in video stores and video sales, before eventually making their cable TV debuts.
Weekly basis
But Offsay says it’s important to make series for TV: “People watch TV on a weekly basis, and they come back for characters that they care about, for people that they want to see again.”
Offsay is a realist when it comes to flying under the radar in comparison to HBO.
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“You know what? [HBO does] a great job,” he admits. “They make good shows, they promote them well, they spend a lot of money on them. And there is an appetite for them, which they have created by making good shows. And we’re just somebody else who’s making television shows with a lot less reach than the broadcast networks.”
Grego, who covers television for the entertainment industry magazine, says Showtime’s newer series “Street Time” and “Odyssey 5” haven’t become the must-see hits that “Soul Food” or “Queer as Folk” are.
She adds Showtime has so many kinds of programming, from science fiction to family fare to edgier series and movies, that it can be “harder to put out a cohesive brand.”
Still, Grego insists the network is holding its own.
“They spend a lot of money on original programming, they spend a lot of money acquiring original stuff as well,” she says. “I think that they’ve actually starting to get some attraction.”